Patrick Leahy

The FBI's surprise admission Friday that a bungled background check allowed Dylann Roof to buy the .45-caliber pistol he is accused of using to kill nine people at a Charleston, S.C., church set off calls for tougher firearm screening rules and may give the White House a chance to reopen a push for gun-control legislation. “I'm here to talk to you about a mistake in a matter of heartbreaking importance to all of us,” FBI Director James B. Comey said at a news briefing. “Dylann Roof, the alleged killer of so many innocent people at the Emanuel AME church, should not have been allowed to purchase the gun he allegedly used that evening.” Those words...

Related "Patrick Leahy" Articles

The Sisyphean task of tax reform should be tried only by someone who will not flinch from igniting some highly flammable people — those who believe that whatever wrinkle in the tax code benefits them is an eternal entitlement. Tax reform's Senate champion...

A GOP-controlled Senate panel has voted to lift a decades-long ban on travel to Cuba, giving a boost to President Barack Obama's moves to ease travel restrictions and open up relations with the Castro-governed nation. The Senate Appropriations Committee...

In the seven months since the U.S. and Cuba declared detente, American politicians have flooded Havana to see the sights, meet the country's new entrepreneurs and discuss the possible end of the U.S. trade embargo with leaders of the communist government....

A GOP-controlled Senate panel has voted to lift a decades-long ban on travel to Cuba, giving a boost to President Barack Obama's moves to ease travel restrictions and open up relations with the Castro-governed nation. The Senate Appropriations Committee...

WASHINGTON The White House is preparing to seize advantage of bipartisan concern over the burgeoning U.S. prison population and push for legislation that would reduce federal sentences for nonviolent crimes. President Barack Obama is expected to...

The FBI's surprise admission Friday that a bungled background check allowed Dylann Roof to buy the .45-caliber pistol he is accused of using to kill nine people at a Charleston, S.C., church set off calls for tougher firearm screening rules and may give...

WASHINGTON � After a series of legislative stops and starts, a Philadelphian's nomination to the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals is in position for a Senate confirmation vote. The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday voted unanimously and without...

Federal law enforcement officials warned Wednesday that data encryption is making it harder to hunt for pedophiles and terror suspects, telling senators that consumers' right to privacy is not absolute and must be weighed against public-safety...

WASHINGTON With international negotiators in Vienna working to reach a nuclear deal with Iran, and the guarantee of a congressional vote on any accord, both hawks and doves among pro-Israel groups are mobilizing over an issue that's growing in...

WASHINGTON The meeting lasted about 160 seconds. With just a few words, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, declared that there would be no vote that day on Luis Felipe Restrepo, a federal judge in Philadelphia who has been...

An important federal appeals court Friday reduced the powers of military commissions to try terrorism suspects for certain crimes, reopening the debate over whether such cases should instead be handled by civilian courts.
The decision by the U.S. Court...

The House overwhelmingly passed a bipartisan bill Wednesday to dial back the once-secret National Security Agency program that collects and stores data from nearly every landline or cellphone call dialed or received in the United States.The bill passed,...

The Obama administration set a record again for censoring government files or outright denying access to them last year under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, according to a new analysis of federal data by The Associated Press.
The government took...

A Senate showdown over a popular anti-human trafficking bill escalated Tuesday, as Democrats filibustered the measure in protest Republican-backed abortion restrictions.
The heated standoff jeopardizes not only passage of the otherwise bipartisan bill to...

The top Republican in the Senate said Sunday he will delay a vote on President Obama’s choice for attorney general until the Senate resolves an unrelated dispute over abortion.
The nomination of Loretta Lynch, currently the U.S. attorney in Brooklyn, has...

Vowing that Islamic State forces are "going to lose," President Barack Obama urged Congress on Wednesday to authorize military action against terrorists who are cutting a swath across the Middle East. Yet he ruled out large-scale U.S. ground...

As the furor grew over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's agreement to address a joint session of Congress, more Democratic lawmakers said Tuesday they would skip the event.
House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) had invited Netanyahu without...

Former Cuban President Fidel Castro, whose absence from public view for months has fueled rumors that he might be dead, reportedly sent a letter to Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona, assuring his friend that he is just fine, thank you.
Meanwhile,...

The surprise deal between the United States and Cuba to reopen embassies and restore diplomatic relations after 53 years in the deep freeze involved no clandestine meetings in either country or participation of an aging Fidel Castro.
Instead, an unlikely...

Upon returning home from five years of imprisonment in Cuba, Alan Gross had the following to say:
Chag Sameach. What a blessing to be a citizen of the United States of America. Thank you President Obama for everything you have done today.
I want...